John Koch

Laura Cooper Elm

Shelley Logan

Sharon Mendonca

Ron Corder

Holly Halter

Al Caniff

Nicole Schultheis

Jerry Wedekind

Wood Craftsman

Sheila Anderson

Functional pottery

Jennifer Rose

Artist

Matthew Thornburg

Oil Painting

Kaye Halter

Jeweler

Ann Fremgen

Pottery

Gail Sovick

Jewelry with mixed media

Beth Marcue – Silversmith

Beth Marcue began silversmithing in 2014 after studying at the Denver School of Metal Arts. Working in sterling silver, 18 kt gold, with precious and semi-precious stones, Beth often produces one.of.a.kind pieces, strives for originality and solid craftsmanship. Silversmithing is Beths’ latest endeavor in a life devoted to creative expression. Beth’s creations are handcrafted for your beautiful everyday life.

Ivy McNulty – Horsehair jeweler and silversmith

Ivy started IM Silver so that she could be home with her children. She
spent two weeks with a gentleman in Wyoming to learn the engraving
and has taught herself the braiding, through trial and error. Ivy
started making horsehair jewelry to help others bridge the gap between the loss and the great memories of their special horses. She love making
horsehair jewelry and feels that it is the very best thing she could be
doing to help support her family and feeds her creative soul.
Ivy lives in Gunnison with her husband, two children, 4 dogs and 6 wonderful horses.

Horsehair Jewelry by IM Silver features hair from your treasured horse, to create beautiful keepsakes. All horsehair jewelry is braided by Ivy . IM Silver’s horsehair jewelry is adorned with hand engraved silver. IM Silver offers the finest silver in both original hand engraved and casted designs by Ivy. Ivy uses no templates, all her hand engraved pieces are unique and one of a kind.

John Koch – Wood Creations

From Harvesting of the wood through the entire creative process, John works alone. He primarily works on the wood lathe, but also continues to excel in his gift with the band saw. He often adds stones, copper, leather, drift wood, antler, and many other natural accents to his turnings, and boxes. His trademark has become his ability to bring out the natural beauty in each piece of wood he works with.

John’s deep appreciation for the Rocky Mountains is the inspiration for his work. His journeys take him into the Colorado back country, where he is able to find unique pieces that would be missed by most. Every piece of wood has a story. It takes the stresses in weather and environment and expresses them in it’s unique beauty. It has always been his objective to realize this truth, and translate it through his creative.

Laura Cooper Elm- Ceramic

Laura Elm is a typical renaissance artist – a master potter and painter whose expressive work is brilliantly detailed and multifaceted. Her openness to experience and theoretical temperament are integral to a passionate pursuit of a wide variety of art forms. She possesses the rare combination of being incredibly focused and detail-oriented while retaining optimism, idealism and vision.

A prolific maker of lyrical things; searching for sublime and hidden meaning; she uses a painterly palette of high key color – difficult to achieve in studio ceramics, that segues seamlessly with her painting and works on paper. Elegant forms and expert drawing are developed from analytical observation of the natural world and then re-tooled, tweaked and intensified imaginatively.

The graphic quality of her work stems from a love of anything beautifully designed and well crafted; especially calligraphy, typography and the printed page. Book arts and textiles form a cohesive connection with pattern and repetition.

Laura’s clay work encompasses functional vessels and sculptural forms overlaid with painterly content like tattoos on skin. The Tattoo Foo Series imparts inherent luck, often blind; sometimes dumb, to traditional tomb figures aka Guardians of Soul. These figures are the domain of Heaven and Hell based on the metaphorical fine line humans tend to walk. Inspired by classic literature and romantic poetry, common features in her work include a strong graphic use of black and white, the sun and moon, and time. The progression of this subject matter ties in nicely with charming Creatures of Habit showing off familiar quirks and playful mannerisms.

During more than a few paradisiacal island years, while living in Micronesia, Elm traveled extensively embracing and incorporating the history, mythology, archeology and art of many cultures including her own oddly American heritage. The overlapping spheres of influence are evident.

Bringing over 30 years of artistic and teaching experience, she thoroughly enjoys the process of learning and quickly draws parallels and cross references ideas that translate intuitively and connect with people young and old.

Shelley Logan – Natures Creations

You can most likely find Shelley hiking with her dogs in the mountains, arms loaded with sage brush, unique pieces of wood, pine cones and heart rocks to be made into one of a kind art. Finding the natural pieces that she uses in her art work is only half of it, from there she cleans, sands, varnishes and pieces together her sage brush words or pine cone flowers until they take shape into the beautiful natural art you see here! A little bit of nature and the mountains of Colorado mixed in with a lot of love, time, hard work and patience these truly unique pieces offer special touch to your home and life and you won’t find anything else like it!

Sharon Mendonca – Pressed Wild Flowers

My craft is drying and pressing flowers and arranging them in a variety of ways. Some of the flowers grow wild, some in my own garden, others are picked from favorite places used for many years and a few are purchased from flower growers.
I’m always respectful of nature and careful of the environment, never pulling roots or taking an abundance from one area.
I use a variety of different sized picture frames, boxes, albums and bookmarks to display the flowers. Often I will arrange flowers around a mat so a favorite picture, verse or saying can be added. Special orders are always welcomed. Since the flowers are dried with no preservatives I recommend that pictures are placed out of direct sunlight to help maintain their color and to ensure a long life. Although I have many presses I like the old style of using catalogs, pressing between generic kleenex that has no dyes, patterns, or perfume to hurt the flowers. Sharing the beauty of Colorado flowers is most important.
I moved to Gunnison in the early 70’s and taught school here for many years, but always enjoyed quiet time with flowers. Now that I am retired much time is spent enjoying my craft and finding new and interesting ways to display them.

Ron Corder- Wood craftsman

Ron Corder is Colorado born and raised. He has been crafting beautiful pieces of furniture and home accents for more than 30 years. He lives a simple life in the mountain community of Arrowhead, high in the Colorado Rockies, where he works from his studio.

All of his creations are custom, one-of-a-kind pieces. He also works with clients to create just what they want.

Ron dreams of creating products that are in tune with nature. After 2 decades of building fine furniture with Aspen, he has developed a new line he calls “Nature’s Antiques.” From Ron’s love of the land and nature’s wonders he creates these functional, one-of-a-kind pieces of creative art, leaving the wood in its natural form as much as possible, embracing the beauty of nature. He utilizes the most unique and oldest woods. Bristlecone Pine, Pitch Pine, Aspen, and reclaimed wood are the premier woods featured in his pieces.

Ron scours the Rocky Mountains for these rare woods. Bristlecone is one of the oldest living species known to man, some recorded to be as old as 4,500 years. Since the wood is extremely dense, it is difficult to work with and takes a lot of patience, perseverance, and endurance to craft his artistic creations. All of the wood he harvests are from private property and legally obtained and only dead trees are utilized.

Call Ron today to see what he can create for you!

“Mother Nature makes it, I just put it together.” ~Ron Corder

Holly Halter- jeweler

Born in Rochester, NY Holly relocated to Gunnison in 1994. An alumni of Alfred U. College of Ceramics, she graduated with a degree in Ceramic Art & Design. She produced a wide variety of handbuilt clay works including functional pieces, including plates, boxes and birdbaths, as well as sculpture. “Lake FairyTea for Two at Four O’Clock”, was created for the 2003 show at the Gunnison Arts Center “Madhatter’s Tea Party” show in 2003. With the Iraq war beginning, she was inspired to create a sculptural piece that was a pure, happy fantasy, and actually installed the piece at the Blue Mesa Reservoir. “Sit, Talk to Me”, was her final large sculpture which was also shown in 2005 at GAC.

Holly started making jewelry in 2015 using aluminum and copper wire. She makes her own wire chains for her necklaces, embellished with glass beads, freshwater pearls, river-rocks, and fanciful metal elements. Many of the necklaces have geometrical forms made of heavy-gauge copper wire, which are forged and oxidized to give an aged appearance. She calls her pieces “Sculpture to Wear”.

Al Caniff

Al Caniff was born in Chicago, Illinois, 1946
He grew up in Michigan and later went on to receive an AA, BFA, MA, MEd, MFA and PhD in Fine Arts.
He worked in Historical Building restoration and as an Artist for many years. He has received
many awards during his career for teaching and his Art work. Currently he teaches Art at
Western State Colorado University where his students learn the same Ceramic techniques that he uses.

Artist Statement
I’m a huge Clay nerd. As a Ceramicist, it was the glazing element that I found the most important. I enjoy
identifying chemical possibilities in glazes, clay, and anything made of clay, as if it were a game show. I particularly gravitate towards crystalline glazes. These type glazes were made before there were computers with limitless formulas to choose from. When these unusual glazes were formulated, so much thought was given to where the crystals were placed, how far they were spaced apart, and the use of color. It wasn’t just because it was the default glaze fired in the kiln.

I hope you enjoy this exhibit which would not be here if were not from the kind encouragement of my dancing partner/wife.

Nicole Schultheis- Soap Maker

Nicole established Silver Thread Boutique in 2014. What had originally started out as a recycle and reuse based business, moved to a new passion revolving around soap. In 2015, Nicole found a passion for the art of soap making. She was drawn to the traditional method of cold process, which involves the mixing of oils and lye without additional heat. This process requires patience and time as bars are required to age a minimum of four weeks. Nicole has discovered that the longer the curing process the better the bar and there is nothing that beats a year-old bar.

Being a stay at home mom, homeschooling included, Nicole relies on soap making to relax and grow in her personal interests. She has learned that the process of soap making as an excellent artistic outlook; it allows for usage of many elements that all work together to produce a unique bar of soap. She is continually striving to master recipes with variation. Her goal is to create soap with as many pure ingredients as possible. This includes no palm oil in her cold processed soaps, because of sustainability reasons.

As with many artist, it is hard not to dabble. Nicole also has a line of soaps that includes colorful micas and fragrances, for those that enjoy this added touch. Her favorite soap will still be those that are comprised of simple and wholesome ingredients. Each bar being made in small batches with love and patience.

Jerry Wedekind

Jerry Wedekind combines his love of the outdoors with his quest to find the perfect aspen burls for his large, unique wood turnings.

Jerry was first drawn to woodturning after seeing beautiful burls of redwood on a trip to California shortly after graduating from Southern Illinois University. He then settled in Colorado, borrowed a lathe, and began turning the natural burls of the trees native to the Southwest.

Jerry Wedekind combines his love of the outdoors with his quest to find the perfect aspen burls for his large, unique wood turnings. Jerry finds his potential turning pieces while hiking and biking the high country of Colorado. He will also take to the air to search out potential burls to use, recording the locations with a GPS unit, then, later, hiking to retrieve the pieces he has spotted. Sometimes getting the burl out of the wilderness can turn into an adventure of logistics. Jerry harvests only from standing dead trees that have aged to a fine and mellow richness of the wood.

Sheila Anderson- Functional pottery

Local potter and teacher.

Jennifer Rose

Born in 1957 and raised on the east coast, my family landed in rural Virginia for most of my upbringing. After spending two years on Nantucket Island I moved to Crested Butte, CO in 1979 where I called home for 35 years. When people ask me where I grew up I more then often reply Crested Butte. It is here that I married, had our son Forrest, became an artist, was a massage therapist for over 25 years and where I explored nature and the amazing mountains which surround this beautiful place.

I stumbled on my first experience of being an artist when I moved in with my husband Bill Smith. Lo and behold I discovered a box of beads which he encouraged me to use and play with. Before I knew it I had a sizable business selling my jewelry in CB and throughout the south west. For 3 years Bill and I traveled to Nepal, India, Indonesia and Thailand in search of beautiful treasures for me to use in my creations.

After having our son Forrest I took a sabbatical from jewelry making and once we navigated him through his teenage years I took a myriad of classes on book binding. I had no idea where this would take me or the degree of passion and joy that it would bring to me. Book binding was an amazing teacher of patience and paying attention to the little things.

The next big change for me was moving from Crested Butte to Prescott AZ in 2014. Most definitely a necessary and welcome change as my body was in need of a more gentle landscape and climate. It is here that I discovered mosaic. I took to it like a duck to water and began to mosaic on anything that called to me such as tables, chairs, violins and guitars.

This past November I attended a class in New Mexico which was taught by Laurel True who is a talented mural mosaic artist who has created murals in California, New Orleans, Haiti and many other places all over the world. She was a true inspiration to me and I look forward to creating community based mosaic murals some day.

Just recently I have revisited book binding and how much fun this has been!

Life to me is a creative experience! And art seems to be an element which transcends time and culture. I hope that you enjoy my art as much as i enjoy creating it!

Matthew Thornburg- Oil Painting

Texas born Matthew Thornburg has for nearly 50 years continued to refine his self taught fine arts skills in the traditional medias of oil, watercolor, pastel, charcoal and of later computer generated works. His painterly realism has been displayed in many Galleries in Texas and Colorado. Matthew’s work encompasses western, wildlife, portraits, murals, still life, and anything in the changing western scene.

Matthew has been called a renaissance man because he is also a musician, playing guitar and bass, a carpenter, works in several building trades, organic gardener, outdoors man, animal lover etc.. He does whatever it takes to survive as an artist in the 21st Century.

Kaye Halter – Jewelry

Born and raised in Rochester, NY, Kaye became very active in art throughout her adult life. She won a scholarship in art to Rochester Institute of art and continued to work in many different media at workshops in printmaking, painting, jewelry, and clay at the Memorial Art Gallery. Kaye was married to Jack Halter and has a son, Kim, the musician, and a daughter, Holly, the artist. She was a member of The Rochester Art Club, The Print Club of Rochester, The Fingerlakes Craftsmen and Tempo which had yearly exhibits at Nazareth College.
Kaye’s work in painting developed from realistic to impressionistic and she enjoyed mixing media, using paper, sand and cloth on her canvasses.
When Clay became her favorite media, she was one of the few artists exploring hand built pieces. She created large boxes and wall hangings using lace, leaves and feathers for texture. Some of Kaye’s friends enjoyed clay workshops in her studio.
One of the most interesting experiences Kaye and Jack had was spending a semester with University of Northern Colorado’s Art Program abroad in Italy. They lived and had classes in a monastery in a small village south of Florence. It had beautiful marble floors and a balcony overlooking the mountains and olive trees. Weekends were spent traveling with the faculty to museums in Florence and other cities.
Kaye discovered aluminum wire while living in Florida and found it very flexible and easy to work with to create interesting pieces of jewelry. She uses different color wire and likes to design different types of chain for her pieces. After shaping the piece, she pounds it to strengthen it and sometimes to add texture. Sometimes Kaye adds interesting types of beads and wire shapes she creates herself. This has become a fun way for an 88 year old to create while sitting down!
In 2015, Kaye moved from Florida to Gunnison to be near Holly and soon became one of the guest artists to exhibit her work at Open Your Eyes Gallery.

Ann Fremgen- Pottery

Organically elegant, this is the quality I want my work to reflect. It is the idea of merging the elegance of porcelain with the organic, which nature appears to achieve so effortlessly that I find so compelling. The lines, the forms, and the textures of nature are the elements that inspire me.

Although my work is primarily functional, nature and my surroundings are my inspiration. I believe the pots we use everyday should reflect the beauty of our world as well as function properly as their purpose dictates. A well-made piece of pottery creates an intimacy with the person who lives with and uses the piece. I hope that people need to touch my work, that is the reaction I seek.

Gail Sovick- Jewelry with mixed media

I’m a local artist and teacher inspired by my love for the beautiful places we call home. My jewelry and belt buckles are made with a variety of maps from vintage to contemporary, set in a quality bezel and finished with jewelry-grade resin. I include mixed media when I can to give my pieces color and flare!

Art inspired by where the wind blows us : Placemark Designs, Gunnison, Colorado.